I regularly compare a document I created with an edit by an advisor. My preference is to "Merge' into the current document; but the default is "Legal Blackline" which creates a new document. Is there a way to set Merge as the default choice? I seem to remember using a computer that had this default.

Based on a quick test here with Word 2003, the checkmark setting for 'Legal Blackline' (in the 'Compare and Merge Documents' dialog which is accessed via Tools > Compare and Merge Documents) is sticky, so that if you turn it off, you will get the type of merge blackline you're looking for, and that setting should then stick for future uses (even if you quit Word and relaunch it).

Are you finding that you are unchecking 'Legal Blackline' and somehow it is rechecked the next time you start Word? If that's the case, it's possible that group policy settings are in place which are enforcing that checkmark - in which case you would need to uncheck it, every time you used that dialog.

It doesn't seem to be sticky. It is something I use most days; and everytime I uncheck the Legal Blackline. I will have a look at the group policy settings. My machine is part of my home workgroup so I am the administrator and I have the luxury of being able to do what I want! I just tried this - "Run gpedit.msc" but could not find anything that looked MS word specific - or any other Office program. Am I missing something?

I haven't worked with these tools myself, so can't offer any specific info, but I think the group policy editor for Office is an entirely different utility. In any case, if it's your home network and you're the administrator, it's safe to say that the issue isn't being caused by any group policy changes you made!

Am at a loss as to why that setting is not sticking. It might be possible to put a line of code in your Normal.dot that runs whenever Word launches, that reinforces the correct setting - will take a look at that and report back when I can.

You could try temporarily disabling the Acrobat add-in to see if that makes a difference.

It doesn't look like putting code in Normal.dot would be an option - as far as I can tell, there's no way to control this particular setting via VBA.

Setting group policies for Office is intended for large groups of users who log in to networks; it would probably be massive overkill to use it for a home network, but if you're interested in looking into it further, this Office Online page would be the place to start.

Maybe the best bet would be to look into Jefferson's suggestion regarding registry keys - for instructions on resetting Word's Data key, see Systematic Approach to Behavioral Problems in Word - the post is a bit dated, but most of the info is still applicable.